Recently, a friend asked me about killing dandelions in her
lawn. She said she had applied some granular weed-and-feed product,
but that it hadn’t sufficiently gotten rid of those pesky
dandelions. I answered with a recommendation on Ortho’s Weed-B-Gon,
a liquid spray applied through a hose connection sprayer that will
not kill your lawn but will kill dandelions and other broad-leafed
weeds.
Recently, a friend asked me about killing dandelions in her lawn. She said she had applied some granular weed-and-feed product, but that it hadn’t sufficiently gotten rid of those pesky dandelions. I answered with a recommendation on Ortho’s Weed-B-Gon, a liquid spray applied through a hose connection sprayer that will not kill your lawn but will kill dandelions and other broad-leafed weeds.
It was only afterward, though, that I really began to think about dandelions. They are, in fact, one of the most common weeds to be found in lawns everywhere. The dandelion, or officially Taraxacum offionale, were anything but a nuisance when I was growing up. I remember girls in the neighborhood making dandelion necklaces of the yellow weeds to hang around their necks. I remember my brother and I on our hands and knees in the yard on orders from my father – to hand dig the pesky critters out one-by-one, root and all. I also remember blowing the weed seeds from dandelions, and watching the seeds float off to spread hundreds of more future dandelions everywhere. (including, I’m sure, more dandelions in our lawn since that’s precisely where I was standing most of the time).
Then, I thought: why can’t we still enjoy dandelions the way we did when we were kids? After all, why is it that we hate dandelions now that we’re adults? I guess, one reason is that – if we search deep down inside, the answer is one of selfishness – namely, we want our lawn to look better than our neighbor’s. What reason other than ego would propel us to spend a fortune on fertilizer, weed killer and more in our continuing search for the perfect lawn?
Most of us see the ideal lawn as one of perfection, with a deep green color, no weeds to be seen and even grass at the perfect height. But grasses are in themselves supposed to grow more than a few inches high. In the wild, wild grasses reach many inches, in fact, with weed seeds attached at the top. Heaven forbid our lawns should succumb to a wild species as low as dandelions. After all, dandelions have a tendency to move into a neighborhood and settle. They are not at all concerned at all with social status, positioning themselves right next to expensive cultivated blooms.
Like all weeds, dandelions are low maintenance plants. They’ll gladly sponge off the water and fertilizer you lovingly provide for the grass and other plants and flowers. One must admit a grudging respect for them, especially when they pop up year after year no matter what we’ve done to try to get rid of them the previous gardening season.
I, for one, am taking a stand right now. I vow to have more patience when it comes to allowing a few weeds to pop up in the lawn now and then. Dandelions, come forth with your bright yellow flower heads and roots that run deep. I promise to let some of you grow and mature. At least until the wife puts her foot down …
